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The English in France
(1458)King Henry VI of England (one of the grandsons of Charles VI of France) claimed the throne of France (and quartered the fleurs-de-lis of France with the lions of England on the royal standard) as had his predecessors since Edward III, as descendants of Philip IV of France. The English had real power or influence in Brittany, Normandy, Flanders and Gascony, and actual possession of several coastal garrisons, in particular Calais, where the French inhabitants had been replaced by English. Henry VI came to the throne only seven years after his father had trounced the French at Agincourt; but his cousin, Charles VII, who became king of France in the same year, spent his long reign rebutting the English king's claim to his throne by territorial reconquest and consolidation. The English administration kept a series of records called the French Rolls. On these are recorded royal appointments and commissions in France; letters of protection and safe-conduct to soldiers, merchants, diplomats and pilgrims travelling to France from England and returning, and to foreign legations. There are also licences to merchants to export to the Continent, and to captains to transport pilgrims. As Henry VI's reign progressed, and the English grip on northern France loosened, the French Rolls also increasingly include entries concerning the ransoming of English prisoners.